The group attempting to bring a Robocop statue to Detroit over the mayor's indifference just…
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Hottelet explained to Jalopnik why he did it and how he got the idea... in Antarctica. He's apparently not just an eccentric CEO with a random Robocop fetish and a DeLorean. He named his company, Omni Consumer Products, after the mega-conglomerate in the film. A fitting name because OCP makes real life versions of fictional products like Brawndo: The Thirst Mutilator from Idiocracy and StayPuft Marshmallows from Ghostbusters.

His $25,000 will help fund the building of a Robocop statue in Detroit, launched by a random tweet to Detroit Mayor Dave Bing. He gave us the scoop on why he got involved in the interview below. You'll just have to imagine every quote from him preceded by a round of semi-automatic laughter.

Detroit may be on the way back from ruin and perdition thanks to Eminem and Chrysler, but Detroit…
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Jalopnik: Why did you decide to help fund a Robocop statue in Detroit?

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Pete Hottelet: It's a ridiculous story. I was in Antarctica and a friend of mine retweeted Mayor Bing, and another friend of mine emailed me the article and I was like... ok... someone needs to make this statue."

Why were you in Antarctica?

I was just fucking around.

In Antarctica?

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I went to North Korea last July.

What was the first step?

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I called the Mayor's office and gave them an offer to make this statue, and they probably didn't think I was serious about making and donating the statue so they didn't call me back. So Wednesday the folks at Imagination Station launched the Kickstarter campaign, and that just sort of took off.

So you've teamed up with them to build it?

They did a great job in launching the Kickstarter and getting the press and attention so last week when we were talking, we said here's our plan: "If we can get up to $25K I'm going to donate the money I was going to spend anyways and we'll kick this thing to the roof and get 'er done."

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If we combine the money we were going to spend, we can make a statue that's twice as big.

How big is it going to be?

I think a ten-foot tall (bronze) statue is probably the minimum, a 15-foot tall one would be great. I don't know. We'll find out. We'll see how the Kickstarter goes.

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What's the source for this statue? What's it going to look like?

I have an amazing story about this. Yesterday I caught up with one of the artists that's working with Fred Barton studios, he works over at Phil Tippett — if you can think of a sci fi movie Phil Tippett probably did models for it. He did all the aliens in the cantina bar in Star Wars, he did the bugs from Starship Troopers. Amazing, amazing work.

So this guy works at Tippett studios, and for the last five years he's been restoring the original set of armor from the Robocop film for the statue, so this whole thing could not have come along at a better time. He's half a glove and a calf plate away from having a completely restored armor, completely meticulous and insanely detailed.

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(You can see a shot of the work above.)

Why does Detroit need a Robocop statue?

It's going to draw a lot of people to the area, it gives them something to stop off and see in Detroit and if they really like the movie people will make the trip out special to go to Detroit. From that perspective it can help the local economy and from another perspective it really shows people they can step up and do something.

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Slightly off topic, do you really wear the Sex Panther Cologne you make?

I wear it every day. 60% of the time it works all of the time.

You can learn more about the Detroit Needs Robocop campaign at their website, which will soon be udpated with the build process.